Decoys have been in the art for many years. Originally, decoys were carved from wood and considerable effort was made to produce realistic representations of the species of interest. One dozen decoys were often carried by a hunter to the use area and recovered for storage and subsequent use. The volume and weight was a considerable burden to the hunter. Evolving art dealt primarily with alternate light weight materials. Removable heads, with storage cavities within the decoy bodies followed. Eventually, inflatable decoys were tried. Inflatable decoys require little storage space and weigh much less but they do not float naturally unless ballasted and they require blowing up and subsequent deflation. One stray shot pellet can reduce the decoy to uselessness and possibly result in it's loss.
Hunters expect the game birds to see only the upper profile of decoys and they rarely have an opportunity to examine the underside. It has been found that decoys that rest on a water or land surface do not need an underside. It has further been found that decoys with a waterline rim become rather stable and resistant to wind and small wave upsetting. The stability appears to result from a suction cup effect of the rim on the water.
Materials currently available are flexible and have a good elastic memory. Such materials can be folded, rolled or otherwise distorted for transport and storage yet assume the original three dimension effect when restraints are released. Expanded foam material is available in sheet form that will deform into a mold with the application of beat and vacuum. Such materials can be painted or printed with the general background color of the species represented. Subsequent selective touch-up with silk screen processes can add the male-female and family characteristics desired, all of the coloring and pattern work can be done while the sheet stock is flat. The subsequent formed material will have the details where needed after forming.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide game bird decoys with an upper profile representative of the species of interest with a rim suitable for surface resting of the decoy, and an open underside.
It is another object of this invention to provide game bird decoys having an upper three dimensional configuration, with an open underside that is formed of material that is flexible enough to be collapsed for transport and storage yet return to the original form when restraints are released.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide game bird decoys that have an upper three dimension profile and an opening into which a head can be installed and positioned selectively for use.
It is still another object of this invention to provide game bird decoys made from flat material that has the selected color patterns on the sheet stock before forming into three dimension shapes.
It is still another object of this invention to provide game bird decoys that have flexible, removable, heads that can be deformed for transport and storage.
These and other objects, advantages and features will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification, including the attached claims and appended drawings.